German GP Sporties 1952…

The 1952 German Grand Prix was won by Alberto Ascari’s Ferrari 500, a fairly predictable result in 1952/3…

The dominant F2 GP 1952/3 combo of Ascari and Ferrari 500, on his way to a Nurburgring 1952 victory. Teammates Farina and Fischer were 2nd/3rd in similar Fazz 500’s (GP Library)

A huge field of cars contested the sportscar supporting event, after a spirited dice pre-War Mercedes GP ace Hans Hermann #21 won from post-War Mercedes GP driver Karl Kling #24 both driving the Benz W194 300 SL heading into the North Curve (below).

The 300SL Coupe won the LeMans 24 Hours that June, Lang shared the drive with Fritz Riess, the win important in a series of steps which took the company back into GP racing in 1954. And in putting into production a road-going variant of the 300SL!

Start of the sportscar race, i’ll take any help you have with car/driver combinations; #21 Hermann, #24 Kling excepted! (GP Library)

Top Down; Victory ceremony with Hermann and Klings cars in shot. No idea in 300SL!. #23 Theo Helfrich in 300SL, the ‘slight’ frame of Benz famous team-manager Neubauer readily evident (GP Library)

Credit…

GP Library

Tailpiece: 300SL Coupe Beauty…

Famously it was Max Hoffman, the New York based importer of VW at the time who insisted the 300SL W194 racer be ‘productionised’, selling like hotcakes given its beauty and technical specifications, the Americans taking circa 80% of the 1400 cars built. This car has Klings #24, clearly he raced the Sporty rather than the Coupe. Nurburgring 1952 (GP Library)